Mood Piece – Mining Entrance

I started doodling in gimp and this is what I ended up with. I would like to say it was a speed concept but it took me a couple hours. Would have been shorter if I had a clear idea, but took some time to see something in the shapes. Hopefully I get quicker at seeing something because I enjoy working loosely and figuring my way out of the piece.

I used some textures from Cgtextures.com. At first as overlays to get some colors going and then to add some decals.

I think I am getting better, but still have a lot to improve. Would love any feedback. Thanks!

Discussion

It is suppose to be a mine entrance. That structure in front is open on both sides and a stair case leads up to it. I think that doesn’t come across as much as I want it too. I think if I punch a hole in the side of the structure it will make more sense if you see the stairs going out the back and make the space feel more dilapidated.

I think I am going to make some basic models in Blender and rework this piece with a paintover in a BlendPaintesque manner. I want to mesh my 2D/3D skillsets to strength both my 2D/3D work.

Thanks for your comment I think I saw the stairs and entrance because I’m the one who made it.

Its a cool painting, for sure. I like how it is tight in the focal point and loose elsewhere. The composition is also well done. The use of photos was a nice touch as well. Finally, the yellow light is executed very well.

The stairs leading to the second entrance are nice, although there is a swatch of color that seems to extend from the roof of the shack to the entrace in the background. Adding some of that gray background color may help break the two structures up at that part.

I notice to the left of the bio-hazard tank and where the overhanging roof meets the shack have thick swatches of brown. Since they are attached to the focal point, they should have more detail added to unify them to their surroundings.

Adding some darker values to the background areas may help the foreground piece ‘pop’ more, and can help lead the eye from the shack to the stairs and mine entrance. The eye is of course drawn immediately to the yellow light of the shack, since it is the area with the most contrast in the piece.

Also, although it is more tight in the foreground than the rest of the image, there could be some further definition of form through use of detail work in the wood areas. It appears to be a wood structure from the context, but looking carefully at the shapes and form makes it appear to be almost red-clay-like. It could pass for rusted brown metal as well, if additional visual cues are added.

I looked at ‘Tower in the Distance’ and can say this piece is definantly an improvement over it. There some areas in this piece with very skillful execution. Overall, very well done painting!

Thank you. I really appreciate you taking the time to crit my work. These are the types of observations I am looking for. I have a long weekend this weekend so I’ll try reworking the image with some of the things you mentioned. Thanks again!